Category: Community

In this Player Spotlight we are looking at White Willow. He seems to grab attention in GC when he is there, so we sent some questions to help us learn more about him.

GM Rikoo: Who are you and how long have you played Illy?

WW: I am a guy who has, up until Illy, played pure war strategy games. I started playing Illy in September, 2015. My real life name is Jim.

If you could add any one thing to the game, what would it be?

I think if I could add one thing to the game it would be speed, but, surprisingly not a lot. I have learned that the many layers of Illy need time to develop and those without the patience are missing the most rewarding part of the game.

If you could delete any one thing from the game, what would it be?

Deleting something is easy because Illy is a game where you don’t have to complete all parts of the game. So the player can do what they are interested in.

Who is your bestest friend of all time in Illy?

I have a lot of friends in the game and I care about all of them. To answer your question I will go with Rill for her devotion to the game.

Who is your arch nemesis?

No nemesis at this time, but that can change… you never know. I am in DSA, a peaceful training alliance and work with Pink Camo another good friend.

If you could give a tip not to newbies, but to vets, what would it be?

My tip to vets? It’s not advice on how to play the game for sure. There are many here that could play circles around me. I would say if you are bored for any reason look around you and find a friend to support.

Awesome, thanks for answering our questions, White Willow! If you would like to nominate someone for Player Spotlight, please do so by sending an email to community@illyriad.co.uk and be sure to include the name of the player and reasons why they should be highlighted!

We here at Illyriad Games pride ourselves on allowing players to create their own content. We set out to make a game that lets players do what they want, and now we can say that our game Illyriad truly allows players the freedom to play as they see fit. With the release of the combat API key, players can share combat information with others, which in turn allows the creation of player tournaments and contests that are hosted by anyone who wants to make one.

That create-your-own-game spirit does not wait on dev-created APIs, however. Some players create tools for others to use, or come up with systems of trade that truly bring depth to the world of Illyriad. Below are three examples of player-created fun, but there are many more.

GM Rikoo: So, you and your friend Digi decided to make a tournament. First, can you explain why you wanted to go through all of this work?

Kodabear: Last year during Neurofibromatosis Awareness Month, I gave out medals to about 18 people. This year I wasn’t able to do a medal and I wanted to do something different. So, I thought about doing a tournament. I sent Digioso an IGM (in-game-message) about this since he is a T? Alliance Vet and has achieved the Magic Bear rank of Coderbear. (Meaning he knew how to code!)

GMR: So, how did you actually create a tournament? I know Illyriad’s API key system was part of it, but how was it involved?

Digioso: The tournament system is based on three parts: One part is a database that is used to store data in. The second part is a database updater that stores combat reports in the database.
And the third part is the website that displays the stored data. The database has a list of all participating players, their player ID, and their Combat API key and also the valid X/Y coordinates for this tournament. The updater downloads the Combat API XML for a player, copies all the combat report links and the combat occurrence date and then does the same for the next player. When it finished doing this for all players it sorts the report by date and starts to download the oldest report.

Next, It checks the X/Y coordinates in that report against the list of valid coordinates. If the combat happened somewhere else it continues with the next one. If the battle happened on one of the tournament squares it reads deeper into the report and takes all relevant information from the report. Like, for example, who participated in that battle, troops involved, type of attack (like normal attack or an occupation force) and of course the length of the intended occupation. With this information the script determines the outcome of the battle (there is no winner mentioned in the combat report). It does that by looking at the surviving forces. If the attacker loses everything, the defender won the battle.

It also tries to keep track of the occupations. We had some trouble with this in the beginning, due to various issues. One really tough nut to crack was when armies are recalled or simply left the square when the proposed occupation duration was over. Because there is no combat report for this, so the script doesn’t get a note about that. But we found solutions for that.

So basically: Without the combat API we wouldn’t have been able to do this tournament at all.

GMR: Do you see yourself hosting a tourney in the future?

K: I am unsure if we will do future tournaments, they cost A LOT of time and resources. Plus this tournament has been very stressful which hasn’t made me really want to do another one sometime down the line. But, it has been a lot of fun as well and I am very excited about the statistics we will generate. I can’t wait to look through them!

GMR: Now that players have been participating for a while, how has the reaction to your tourney been?

K: Players have for the most part been very thankful that they have had a tourney after so long. I have gotten about 30 or so thank you IGMs from players taking part and even from some that aren’t taking part.

GMR: What would you do differently if you could host another tourney?

K: If I ever do another tournament I will have the alliance leaders collect the API keys, the playerIDs, and the names. And when I add in the API keys I will give them a list back of which ones that are working and that aren’t working.

GMR: What has been the most fun so far?

K: The most fun part hasn’t came yet. I can’t wait until the end of the tournament, when we post the statistics, to see how well alliances did and how bad some did… it is going to be pretty fun. I wanted to be part of the bloodiest battles but sadly I wasn’t able to do this due my army being killed before I can make the plans.

GBR: What has been the worst part so far?

K: Collecting API keys has been the worst part of doing a tournament and dealing with all the problems in the first half of the tournament

GBR: Last, are you really magic?

K: I really am a magic bear with great magical powers and everything.

Thanks to Kodabear and Digioso for all of their hard work. The Illyriad team will also be taking donations of Prestige to donate to the foundation that Koda is attempting to draw attention to. We will announce totals later.

Next up, we look at a player who has created a notification system for your mobile device, or any device that works with the Pushbullet app! Players can get notifications of attacks and other events, and it’s all for free! For more information, check out the following forums and posts:

I’ve built a little service which will monitor your Illy notifications and than send them to your phone and/or desktop via PushBullet service.

I am currently testing it, but right now I need a few more people to test things out! So, if you are interested, PM me or leave a message here and I will pm you. Please note that I am using the notification service for the last several days and it works flawlessly!

Requirements

1- You must install PushBullet to either your browser or phone and create an account there. PushBullet is already great service, but it will be better with your Illy Notifications! 2- You will enter your notification API and Pushbullet API to my service. You can create an alt account if you don’t trust me with your APIs. I think time will show that I have no bad intentions.

For now I will provide link via private message and trust people won’t spread it before its ready! Also, if you are not interested in testing things out, but you think this is cool and you would use it when its finished please say so!

I’m a complete newbie who lives in the newbie ring. I’ve created my second city and trying to move out. So, I could use resource donations for leveling up my warehouse!”

Check out this handy service if you need to know what’s going on with Illyriad at all times.

Next we wanted to tell you about a player who has created the RIF, or Republic Investment Fund, a new way to sink gold into… well, we’ll just let the player explain it in the interview below:

GMR: Introduce yourself!

E: Hi, my name is Eowan The Short and I run the Republic Investment Fund (RIF). I have been playing Illyriad since the 20th of September, so about 9 months.

GBR: What is this RIF?

E: The RIF is an investment bank. When players invest with it, they buy shares called ‘Aurums’. I then use the gold they have invested to buy and sell goods for a profit, mostly cows, herbs, and horses but recently I have been able to branch out into other markets. The profit increases the value of the RIF which increases the value of the player’s aurums. I update the value of the RIF on Wednesdays and Sundays. When a player wants to get their investment back, they can either sell their aurums directly back to the RIF at their current value or they can sell them to other players for whatever price they want.

I don’t really have a goal for the RIF, it was originally set up to provide RoFC’s members with a way of investing their money instead of having it sit in their cities or in a trade hub doing nothing. Since then it has been opened up to everyone in Illyriad, so now anyone can make money out of it.

GBR: So, in a real example, I gave you 1,000 gold. What happened with my gold?

E: With your gold I bought and sold various resources, mostly in Centrum though I do buy and sell goods in Windmire and directly with other players. This then increased the value of the aurum and increased the value of your investment. When I started allowing players to trade between each other, you asked for me to trade yours for you. I did this and by buying aurums when they were being offered at low prices and then selling them to a player who wanted them at a higher price, I was able to make you 10000 gold on top of the aurums you already had.

GBR: How has the response to RIF been? Do players seem interested?

E: The response has been mostly positive. The RIF was opened to everyone because a player, I think it was Angrim, noticed it and asked about it in GC. I explained and people seemed interested so it opened. In less than a week, over 1.25 million aurums were bought by players and the RIF was filled (there is a cap of 2.5 million aurums).

There have been a few people who suspect that what I am doing is a scam designed to con players out of their gold. I have also been told by a few players that “trading for profits is not very profitable” in Illyriad. A lot of people are quite suspicious and are worried about the risk to their gold.

I try to answer people’s questions about what I am doing as best I can but sometimes people don’t feel like I am trustworthy/competent enough so they don’t invest, but that is their choice. I am thinking about setting up some kind of insurance system where players pay to have their aurums protected at a certain value to try and make people feel less worried about investing. However, in 15 weeks the RIF has never made a loss so I like to feel that the chances of anything going wrong are fairly low.

GBR: If someone else wanted to get in on the action, what should they do?

E: Currently, there are no aurums left for the RIF to sell so if they want to get involved, players should contact the list of people on my profile to see if they are willing to sell their aurums or IGM me with an offer and I can get in contact with people who might sell but don’t want to be contacted directly. In the future, I will probably create more aurums but at the moment I have enough gold to trade with.

Alternatively, people who want to get involved could set up their own versions of the RIF. I know at least one other alliance is considering starting their own fund and it would be nice to have some competition.

Thanks again to everyone for creating their own fun in Illyriad! The players in Illy make the game what it is, and as you can see from these examples, they can literally make the game! If you would like to sign up and play for free, you can do so right here: https://www.illyriad.co.uk/

Below is a recent post about an update to tournament squares. These squares are special spots in the game-world that can be fought over or held as part of large contests or tournaments. Essentially, we now have a graphic for each square (as well as squares in the Broken Lands, the dangerous landmass to the South) and this — along with our combat API keys — will allow players to create and run their own tournaments. From the forums:

“Great news!

We have talked for a while about wanting to give Illyriad’s players more freedom to play how they want. Today we have given another tool to players, one that will hopefully allow them to host their own player-ran tournaments.

Some of you might have already noticed, but the current tournament squares in game now have a graphic. We have also included tournament squares in the Broken Lands.

These squares are live right now. Keep in mind that on these squares all NAPs and Confeds are suspended; this means that only members of your Alliance can occupy these squares. (Players, if you can, please help us test this out. If you see an issue with any of the squares concerning the suspension of NAPs or Confeds, let us know immediately!)

We are even open to the idea of donating official prizes to players who need them to run a successful tournament! We will flesh these ideas out as we go along, but we would reserve these official prizes to server-wide tournies that would be open to a wide section of players. If you want to discuss details, IGM me in game, so we work on getting the pre-approval needed for any prize donation.

If you have any questions, please let us know! It’s possible that some of the kinks will still need to be ironed out, so be patient with us while we work on them.”

This development has led to Kodabear (the only magical bear in Illy!) to host his own tournament, due to launch soon. For more information, check out his thread.

What does this mean for the future of Illy? We’d like to think that players will learn to create their own content and will continue to leave their stamp on the game-world. We have always thought of Illy as a place for those who want to play how they want. The ability to host a tournament is just one more tool in the player’s belt.

This Player Spotlight is all about TheDiva! We received quite a few nominations for her over several weeks, so it will be good to finally get her interviewed and up on the Wall of Shame! Enjoy!

What is your name and how long have you been playing Illy?

Diva… eh? My family calls me YaYa. I started Illyriad December of 2011… leaving another war game that I had truly tired of. I went to an RPG site again, picked Illyriad.

Why do you play so often?

I can multitask, believe you me. I chase grandkids, cook dinner, laundry, play with pets, take care of my 84-year-old mother, go to the gym, shop, plan weddings, throw a hubby in there, so what can’t I do? I recently had some serious surgeries! I’M STILL HERE! Illy is a piece of cake between commercials! And the people of ILLY need me… OK, my alliance friends do! 🙂

Some players told me that you are always doing flip-kicks and other attacks. If you are a ninja as you seem to be, where did you go to ninja school?

It’s all about dominance, you have to have skills. I’ve watched a lot of subtitled ninja movies and anime… over and over and over… added my own methods and voila!… I have perfected the Diva Way of twisty kicks, and triple flips, back bend roll-overs and all with fluidity and grace. Stilletto’s really help keep my balance. I keep a few notebooks that I plan to write into a book in the future.

What advice would you give to aspiring players?

This is a game to stick with, it’s not fast paced. I can’t say that about Global Chat though, that’s an eye-rolling experience to keep up with.

Aspire to make the game your own, Illyriad is a study in patience. Many players here have patiently waited to grow and love the place they are in to help in their alliances and aspiring players. 40 cities now? There are also a few new additions like the Factions, and histories of them, which makes any hamster happy to be busy with.

What is your favorite part of Illy?

My favorite part of Illy is the things I learn about the game and (even more) the places, people, cultures, food, cars, sports, history, and vast amount of smart players we have. Humor is the best part. A lot of +1’s. I have learned things I never knew and I am a know-it-all now… go figure.

What is your least-favorite part of Illy?

If it was all the “same” all the time, that would be my least favorite part. Illy is not that for me… it’s something new EVERY DAY!! Just watch Global Chat! Sneak into some ACs sometimes.. LOL!

What will it say on your Illy tombstone?

That’s been said already… It’s a quote from Mae.. it will say:

“Diva Diva she’s a wonder and when she is old and grey, all the boys will say by thunder she was some gal in her day!”

Thanks again to TheDiva for taking the time to answer our questions. If you want to nominate someone for Player Spotlight, send then player’s name along with the reason why they should be picked to community@illyriad.co.uk !

Congrats to Kumomoto for being this month’s Player Spotlight! Let’s get to the questions!

So, you were a very early-stage Illyriad player. What’s been the biggest change over the years?

I am the oldest playing member of Illy. Biggest change? My lord! Illy has had generations of change! What is a better question is what hasn’t changed in Illy over that time? And the answer is the newbie-friendly nature of the game…

H?’s first war was against an alliance named White which stood for ganking newbies… We espoused an opposite attitude and went to war over it. We won. And then Starry started Toothless?, which was the first training alliance (training alliances are alliances where newbies can join and noone will attack them and they learn. And, most importantly, all the other alliances respect these players and stay away from them). This model took off and now there are lots of great training alliances in game. And all the major alliances have espoused the newbie protection ethos we started and, imo, the game is very different from others because of it.

Surely you have a good war story. Tell us one. Or two.

Stay tuned to GC… I tell them periodically!

Has it been challenging to keep foes guessing, or do you always rely on similar battle tactics each time you get in a scrap?

At H?, we have constantly modified our tactics based upon current game usage, game mechanics, and our strategies and tactics. We’ve won 7 and lost one (albeit the largest one! ugh!)…

In the last war (and largest war in the history of Illy), there were 42 attempted sieges on my two accounts’ cities. Not one was captured or razed. (A lot were exodused though!). Shows that when you are outnumbered 10:1 you can still “swamp fox” in Illy! Many millions of enemy troops lost their lives in those attempts…

Do you sometimes wish you could start over in Illy? If you did, would you want to know what you know now or would you want to know nothing… you know?

If I started over, I’d wish I wasn’t such an arrogant ass to a lot of people I actually respect… I regret some of the things I said and would take them back.

Who is your favorite player? Why?

Tough one! I probably have to say two people: Starry and ScottFitz. Starry for having the vision (and the huge effort she put in) to create the template for training alliances in Illy. And ScottFitz for being one of the leaders of a major alliance with the most integrity I have seen in online gaming ever…

Who is your nemesis? Why?

I don’t really have a nemesis today! Diablito was a good one at one time… Because he was all for ganking newbies and totally did not stand for what we did!

What is your greatest achievement in Illy?

I don’t have one. H?, on the other hand, under KillerPoodle and other Directors’ tutelage, greatest achievement, is fostering this culture of being receptive to new players. I think it is utterly unique in online games. Haven’t seen it elsewhere and we are really proud of starting it…

This month’s Player Spotlight focuses on Martilicious. She’s been a real headache wonderful player for a while now, despite her obsession with crushing sugar-based snacks.

How long have you been playing?

I founded my first city on Friday 2nd May 2014. So I’ve been here for over a year and STILL haven’t completed all research or built my first city the way I want it, because the things I need to build keep changing.

I know you came with the LoU crew… so how has Illy compared to that game now that you have played for a while?

I have played LOU, Evony and some space type game (I lasted about a week). Compared to all other games, Illy is the most complex, with so many layers. Just when I think I understand it, something else crops up…

Surely you hit players in PvP in LoU, so why don’t you kill everyone in Illy?

*Gasp* I never killed anyone. Ever. I am a peaceful crafter. Fact. Anyone who says differently will get a visit from my siege army. If I had one, obviously.

If you could add anything — and I mean ANYTHING — to Illy, what would you add?

I will take that as a promise that anything I mention here WILL be added, thanks! I’d love to see the ability to cancel trade unit movement, larger groups of simien wolves and a surprised smiley :O . Giving me control of the hammer would be AWESOME, I would not abuse that at all, definitely not.

Give me a good Illy memory.

The welcome I received on first joining always stands out. Despite not receiving a welcome message and mail from Kodabear (hard to believe, I know) I muddled through with a lot of help, and still am. One day soon (TM) I may not need to ask questions…. I also remember joining my alliance and enjoy every day in Alliance Chat – the work that goes into an alliance is amazing. The yoga classes are pretty cool too.

Give me a bad Illy memory.

I almost cried the day I killed 69 skinners. And the day I hit the 12 day research thinking it was 12 hours. And all those times I sent the cotters on a 16 day journey to harvest minerals.

If you can honestly predict how long you will play, in freakily-accurate numbers, tell me the date and time.
I will throw this one back at the Dev team and the Illy community…. I will play for as long as I am engaged and having fun. So keep on adding new stuff, play nice, keep me interested and I’ll be here.

Who is your in-game nemesis?

I looked up nemesis, and one definition is ‘a downfall caused by an inescapable agent.’ I have 2 candidates (details on my profile folks!) hrandjt and System.

I have heard that there is a player named Fiona Withadot. Are you flattered that someone is impersonating you? Why would they do that?

There is?? Where?!?! I have heard of this upstart. She is barely a dot on my radar. I have also heard that a few dwarves like her. Shameful. She thinks she is all cute with her pointy ears… I will catch her one day and show her what orcs do to elves. 🙂 As to why she would impersonate me, obviously she has no life.

If you had one thing to say to your enemies, what would it be? (You can curse. Don’t worry, I’ll change all of the curse words to the words BUNNY BUTT.)

I have enemies? Where?? Is it that impersonater? Did she say something? Don’t listen to her, she’s nuts. I mean how can you listen to someone who claims to be a Saint? See, I didnt curse and you dont have to use Bunny Butt to cover it up. Which, by the way, totally replaces any curse word. 🙂

Be honest: You come to socialize, conquer, trade or all of the above?

haha Depends on who you ask. I want to say conquer but if you ask my alliance mates they will probably say socialize. Secretly, I want all the gold. 🙂

If you had a beeeelion dollars, what would you program into Illy?

I think a Navy would be pretty cool. Ships, subs, gun ships, battle stations. (Wait, battle stations? Is that a Star Wars reference? hehe) Could you imagine a fleet of ships 100k strong coming at you? That would look pretty awesome on the water. Green and red getting ready to clash. And ahem… Audrey’s quest more…ummm solvable…..

What do HATE about Illy? Be honest or we will know and then we will attack you with mammoths.

Rikoo…. I’m an orc, mammoths don’t scare me, now your guards… that’s another story. What do I hate about Illy? Can’t say theres anything I hate, but things that can get annoying… not being able to recall harvesters in a 90 second window. Spider NPC’s are pretty scary, I never hit them. I avoid them. I dont want spider parts in my inventory…. Spider fangs?? Ugh. I do, however, have mammoth parts…. 😀

How many times have you made a mistake in Illy? Tell us about one of those times.

Ha! If I had 1 gold for every mistake I made, I would have a few million collected by now. Recently though, (rolls eyes and a few curse words) I had a scout army that just got back home. 1 troop, 5k scouts (not the cheap ones either) I then sent an army out to a horde of rats. I realized about 10 min before they hit that it was my scouts. Sigh.. Plus side, gold was in the black for a bit. 🙂 I did a moment of silence for them, it was tragic.

Which other MMOs do you play? If you do play others, what do you like to do in those other MMOs?

Honestly, I have never really played other MMOs. Illy is my first one. I have looked for other ones since starting Illy and frankly none compare to this game. Illy has spoiled me for all other games. I also notice playing this game im a bit more fearless than I used to be. So when I look at other games, I look for ones that have good fighting. Because, it’s fun!

How many dragolichs would a dragolich drag if a dragolich could drag wood?

I pondered this question awhile. Then I got a headache, had to lie down. Got up took some asprin and still didnt know what you asked. So I googled it. I was clueless as to what a dragolich was, turns out if it weren’t for google I still wouldn’t know. So my guess is….42 🙂

Why do I play? Apart from griefing people in GC or to sing stupid songs and get blamed for nearly everything? lol. Nah, I started playing almost 3 years ago as a refugee from Kingdoms of Camelot.

I liked the idea of being able to siege and not being ‘ported on’ as its called in KoC. (Being ported on means someone can teleport a city right on your doorstep to unload every single attacker, and you don’t have much of a hope being able to defend.)

So, a few of us came over… I’m one of only a couple who have stayed and have enjoyed it ever since. It’s mostly the people from around the world who I’ve come into contact with, who ACTUALLY like me and chat to me, that’s the main reason I’m still here. Also, getting 10 cities.

You’re a member of one of the 1238 branches of the Crow players. What does it all mean?

It means we’re all after your soul, devil GM man!!! Honestly nowadays I don’t know what it all means. I just know mCrow is a fantastic alliance to be involved with, with THE best AC going around. Never have I been involved with such a great group of people that I consider my friends. Also, the Crows hang around just to prove Epidemic wrong about the Crow Civil War.

Why do people say they blame you? For what? Tell me so you can be in trouble.

WELL. That all started one Monday morning Australia time. I tried to log in as I normally do but could not. Something wrong on the server end, I guess. I sent a message to Jane DarkMagic about it. Immediately after she went into GC, I’m told, and told everyone that I had broken Illy and that they should #BlameNikon. It’s stuck ever since. And yes, I know, it’s a sucky story.

Why do you often say “GM Rikoo is probably the coolest person, ever!”

Oh really? I must have a chat with my sitter then, or Rill was blabber-mouthing again thinking, I’ve said something I didn’t! Honestly, you’re an OK kind of guy, and doing alright with your mammoths and stuff.

If you had all the time and MONEY in the world but for some strange reason decided to continue to hang out playing Illy instead of travelling the world, what would you want to accomplish?

Getting at least 10 cities would be first. I’m a slow player and only have 8 cities after almost 3 years. I would also try to start a war over me… I mean, who doesn’t want to try that? lol

I asked this of the last spotlight, but who is your nemesis?

Soldier of the Cross. He is such a suck-up. Always wants to be cool like me. He tries so hard to get me angry, but in the end he is simply a clown. We were both T? graduates about the same time, and the both of us gave poor LadyLuvs alot of grey hairs!

How often do you attack something in game? Do you wish there were more attacks in game?

Three or 4 times a week or so. There often isn’t much around that I would want to attack. As for having something else to attack, I do wish that the factions were live, but not only to attack.

I do hope that it will be used for an Illy world-wide event, maybe where factions go and try to either undermine Sigurd or become the new leader of Illyriad. Something like that. On my profile is a link for what I think factions should be or do, check it out. i can actually do smart things 🙂

Thanks to Nikon for taking the time to answer my questions! Next time you see him, blame him for something.

What is Coin? It’s your alliance ticker, so what does the alliance stand for?

* disclaimer* my answer is in no way to point fingers at other alliances and is not in any way stating other alliances aren’t doing similar things, but instead my answer is what I am proud to point out Coin does or plans to do.

War is easy to start but peace is hard to maintain. Coin is a peaceful alliance with the intent to help others as well as give players a place to call home in this game. At the most basic level, Coin is a trading alliance which supports T-O and eventually the Dsd as well. It is also essentially a home for tinkerers, thinkers, leaders, and players who want to be their unique selves as well as be a team player.

Hiei and I have been planning this alliance for quite some time now, we wish to give players an interactive personalized way to learn the game mechanics and keep it interesting as we go through team-building simulated situations in which players both new and old can partake in. This alliance is all about helping one another, helping out the game’s community but while keeping a creative edge to how we go about doing so, so it will remain fun.

What would you like to add to the game if you have magical dev powers and unlimited funding?

An alliance bank for items, not just gold. Factions hubs are alright for this to a degree but if we had the option to give ____ player(s) power to view what the alliance had, put items in, take them out, etc it was would be safer for the alliance as a whole instead of designating one player to act as an alliance hub or have it all scattered between a lot of players and crafters. Maybe even going a step further and let the alliance have their own faction hub where they can buy and sell to one another without other alliances seeing their inner-alliance prices would be great and fun to see which alliance could build a stronger inner-alliance economy.

Name a time in Illy when you did something you regretted.

I try to play the game in a way where I never really regret my actions, but instead accept the outcome be it good or bad since this is first and foremost a game that is meant to be fun. If I really had to choose a time I felt regret, it would be the times when I recently decided I wanted to change up all 10 cities, exodus each, rebuild them into better balanced cities… it’s sad to see my population go down as much as it has. I only have a few in their new locations as of yet, but at the same time it’s a game so what the heck… I can rebuild it back up to where I was or even surpass that and get an 11th on that day so will be fun.

Do you have an in-game nemesis? (I don’t mean someone who you actually dislike in RL. Maybe a competitor for trade or something? )

Hiei 100%! It’s a love-hate kinda thing in game and out of game. We choose to be partners in this game; meaning we stick together through thick and thin, work together no matter how much of polar opposites we really are and try to out do one another with the best/craziest/most creative ideas we can think of to try out in game. We keep it fun and help out our new alliance and alliance members with growth.

That doesn’t mean we work in harmony all the time, we bicker like an old couple, are rivals in being the best leaders we can be and will nitpick each other’s playstyle and choices when we have slow days or want to play around. I believe — as messed up as all this may sound — that type of relationship in game actually makes us stronger and more balanced as a team since my weaknesses are his strengths and his weaknesses are my strengths. It sounds cliche but it’s fun and it also allows me to nag him and be my mother-hen self and anyone who knows me knows that’s my specialty and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What advice would you give to a new player that is not normally something that newbies hear?

This in my opinion: it’s a sandbox game. That means you can go down any path you can think of in-game — that the game mechanics allow and isn’t “wrong” — even though some people will try to force you to believe it is. So the only way you can really know how to build your city is to make mistakes yourself and learn what you like, learn what you don’t, and customize it to match your unique amazing self!

Long story short, please don’t always blindly follow the social norms of the game thinking that’s the best way to be a part of the community, any good sandbox needs tinkers, thinkers and leaders so be creative, random, thinking outside the box to see if it will work. Just have fun with it!

How long do you think it took to become “skilled” at Illyriad?

Who said I was “skilled” in it now? Heck, I would love to think I am skilled at the game but I’m not sure there is a way to truly know if you are or aren’t since this, in my opinion, is a sandbox meaning there is no wrong way, just different styles. It took me a good few months to get down the game mechanics at a basic level then a year or so to get a way in which I felt was best for my personality.

As the game becomes more developed there are more things to take into account or learn about so I think I am always learning and growing as a player. I have “skills” in some categories of the game but not all of them… maybe one day though! Until then I will always happily accept other people giving me their opinion on good tips or strategies for the game.

Recently we hosted a quick (so we thought) contest for the best short — as in very short, under 500 words — story that took the theme “Illyriad Battle.” As we expected, we received a ton of great writing. A TON.

So, instead of picking a single winner, we went with three. Heck, we could have picked out 12 and would still need to give out more prizes.

Each winner gets 100 Prestige and a custom in-game medal.

Enjoy reading these. We know we did!

Rikoo

Hold the Line by Belegar Ironhammer

Steel rang upon steel beneath a blackened, storm-wrought sky. White forks of lightning flashed brilliantly, heralding deafening claps of thunder that roared across the muddy, blood-soaked battlefield. Guttural orc war-cries echoed in the night, a savage prayer to the gods of war, answered only by the roaring bellows of the dwarves, beseeching their comrades to greater efforts.

“Hold the line!” shouted Belegar, yelling with all his might. Clad in silversteel plate and surrounded by his elite bodyguards, the dwarf king stood like a rock against the orc tide, his warhammer gripped firmly in his gauntleted hands. The war axes of his chosen rose and fell in a steady rhythm, every stroke claiming the life of an orc, snapping bones like straw and pulping innards in crimson sprays of arterial blood. Crossbow bolts cut the air, hissing like vipers.

A snarling, yellow-toothed orc charged Belegar, brandishing gore-streaked scimitars in each of its meaty hands. Red, bloodthirsty eyes glowed like embers in the orc’s ugly, lopsided skull. A cloak of flayed skin wrapped about his brawny shoulders.

One of Belegar’s bodyguards leapt in front of the onrushing orc, an oath of hatred gushing from his lips. Quick as the lightning that rent the sky, the orc slashed his scimitar at the dwarf, piercing his armour and dealing a grievous wound to the dwarf’s shoulder. The dwarf sank to his knees, blood seeping from the sundered armour.

Before the orc could complete the kill, Belegar attacked, screaming a foul cry of his own in the harsh language of the dwarves. Blunt-nosed hammer and scythe-like scimitar met in a guttering sizzle of orange sparks. Pressing his assault, Belegar slammed his hammer downwards in a series of brutal, overhead strikes.

The orc parried the dwarf’s heavy-handed strokes, his every action accompanied by a savage grunt, his green face split by a feral, lipless sneer.

The mud sucked at Belegar’s boots, seeking to drag him down as he advanced. The silver-armoured dwarf pulled his hammer over his shoulder and swung it forwards just as the orc launched an attack of his own. Belegar ducked beneath the twin murder-weapons and completed his swing, his hammer crunching solidly into the orc’s left ankle, which shattered like a pane of glass in a hailstorm.

Swept off his feet, the orc landed heavily on his back, air whooshing from his lungs. The impact ripped the breath from his throat and a scimitar slipped from his hand.

Seizing the advantage, Belegar swung hard and smashed his hammer into the orc’s sternum. The force of the impact stung his hands and vibrated up his arms and into his shoulders. A column of thick black blood geysered into the air, drenching Belegar in a shower of warm, sticky rain. The dwarf’s next attack hit the orc’s skull, which exploded like rotten fruit. Bone chips ricocheted off his armour.

Belegar stood to his feet just as another wave of orcs attacked, a solid mass of muscle, sweat, and rage.

“Hold the line!”

A Beautiful Morning by Mauhaut

Jocelyn peered across the field towards the castle. Morning mist was hazing the ground, a small stream was gurgling nearby and the dawn light was flushing the castle towers with red and gold.

It was a beautiful morning.

‘Why isn’t anything happening over there?’ he thought. ‘They can see us, and their scouts must have been reporting our movements for days.’

He looked back over his shoulder, the camp fires surrounded by archers and infantry, spearmen on the perimeter being handed plates of food. He noted approvingly that squads of cavalrymen and squires were passing out feed and water buckets to the horses picketed behind the tents. There was an appetising smell of bacon cooking in pans over camp fires.

A light breeze began to brush over the tops of the grasses and sighing he moved off to report to the commander.

Knight Commander Argenteous was not in the best of moods….

‘Some nameless idiot has recalled most of the divisions from the other attack,’ he stormed. ‘He wants them for a gala, or something equally asinine.’

‘Before some other wet behind the ears royal brat gets ideas about birthday parades we’d best get this siege over and done with.’

‘Sound the attack Jocelyn, plans are laid, let’s get on with it.’

The plans had indeed been laid. Jocelyn and his fellow commanders had honed and refined the battle plans over many weeks. Weeks in which their progress north had been apparently ignored.

The stream was larger here, flowing slower. Jocelyn could see fish in the water and swans were gliding majestically, outlined against the willows and reeds. So entrancing was the scene that it took a moment – a quiet, half asleep moment – before Jocelyn realised that this was no low lying dawn mist but smoke, the siege engines had done their work; this morning there were no red gold towers, just blackened beams and smoking debris. No smell of bacon this morning, another, far less appetising smell permeated everything.

It was very quiet, the quartermasters had moved everything necessary into the marginal safety of a partially still standing curtain wall and the camp was, apart from the sentries and scouts, mostly sleeping. The horses were picketed on the water meadows, the grass so long and lush that it hid the picket lines.

It was an idyllic spot. Idly Jocelyn wondered if Commander Argenteous was minded to be generous in rewarding his subordinate commanders.

‘Good land this,’ he thought. ‘Horse country, and I could grow good crops, soil looks fertile, river is wide enough and deep enough that I doubt it runs dry in summer.’

‘Miriam and the kids would love it here.’ Daydreaming, in the still of the dawn, he wandered slowly along the river bank.

Something glinted away in the distance.

Baffled, Jocelyn peered across the fields and forests, towards another castle, rising out of the mist in the distance; the dawn light flushing the castle towers with red and gold.

It was a beautiful morning.

Inspired by https://hoocher.com/Jasper_Francis_Cropsey/Chepstow_Castle_on_the_Wye_1854.jpg

And a real circumstance in the GA war.

A Militiaman Returns Home by Artefore

He had long dreamt of this moment. The sun brushed the distant hilltops, painting the clouds a deep crimson as the day made way for night. The last of the birds sung from the trees that lined the earthen path, and as he strode up it, the smell of roasted chicken rode on the light summer breeze. The top of the path led to a simple cottage, earth and thatch, but to him, the sight of a mighty keep could not be more comforting. At last, after all the years, of toil and battle, he had returned.

The woman who answered the door was older, greyer than he remembered, but the dimples in her cheeks shone just as they always had when she grinned at the sight of his face, and her arms around his neck and the kiss she pressed into his mouth felt just as good as he remembered. He looked deep into her almond eyes, and whispered,
“Maria, I love you more than anything.”
“Adam! Oh, Adam, you’re home!” she cried, and at that moment, she was as young as the day they were wed, and he found himself grinning ear to ear as he embraced her. As he stepped over the doorway, he nodded. “Yes,” he said, “I’m home.”

Adam found his sons whacking each other with wooden sticks in the back yard. They rushed up to him when they saw him, excitedly shouting “Dad! Dad!” and wrapping their arms around his midriff in a tight bearhug. He noticed the eldest, Rory, was wearing a pail over his head like a helmet, and took it off his head, laughing.
“Look at how you two have grown! What’s this for, Rory? Fighting off the Orcs?”
“Yeah Dad!” his son exclaimed, “I’m gonna be just like you!”

The pounding of boots shook the earth, filling his skull with noise and sound as the army marched, a living machine of leather and steel. Suddenly, further ahead in the column, someone screamed, “AMBUSH!!” and the sky seemed to fill with black feathered javelins. Adam barely had time to raise his shield before they fell upon him, the thud of spear tip against oak intermingling with the screams of those less fortunate. As the orcish hordes fell upon them, he felt something graze his right thigh, and when he looked down, he saw blood on his leather.

“Dad? Dad? Are you okay?” Adam felt tugging on his shirt as Harst, his youngest son, awoke him from his daydream.
“Yes, I’m alright. Come here,” he said, grabbing a stick. “Let me show you how to really swing a sword.”

Later that evening, as they sat down to roast chicken and fine apple cider, his wife pressed him with questions about his years away.
“Was the food good? Did you meet the Lord? Did you see the Bitter Sea?” He told them all he could, about the jungles of Kul Tar and the seas of Azura, about the gnomes and the fey and all the wondrous things he had seen.
“Where’s Donald?” she asked. “Did he come home to his wife too?”
“Donald? Oh, he-”

The battle swirled and leapt around him, a cacophony of screams and the ring of steel on steel. Adam held his ground, kneeling on his good leg and keeping his shield high. A wolf leapt at him, slaver dripping from its jaws as its orcish rider urged it forward. Adam bashed its nose with his shield, sending it veering away, yowling. He gripped his spear, and as the wolf turned for another attack, he drove the point between its eyes. The beast thrashed in pain, ripping the weapon from his grip, and throwing the orc out of his saddle. He drew his sword and rushed the greenskin, screaming curses as he raced forward. The orc only laughed, and brought his scimitar around in a sweep that knocked the sword from his hands. Adam fell to his knees, and the orc raised his cruel blade for the final strike.

It was then that a spear tip poked through the green chest, and Donald’s familiar face grinned as it fell to the earth. “We’ve got to look after each other!” he cried, and held out his hand. Adam was about to take it, but another hand was faster. The fallen orc yanked Donald off his feet and crushed him in a deadly embrace with the last of its strength, cursing in a guttural language as he squeezed the life from the man’s body. Donald let out an unearthly howl, and the blood drained from his face. Adam grabbed a rock and drove it against the orc’s skull, but it was too late. Donald’s face was frozen into a deathly scream, pale white and unbreathing. His crushed body slumped against the orc’s, and Adam knelt in the dirt and wept.

“-he, uh, decided to stay in the army! He’s in some far off land right right now, I reckon.”
“Oh, that’s nice! I hope he enjoys the adventure!”
Adam said nothing. He knew that he was safe now, in the comfort of his home and family, but the horrors of war would find a way to stay with him until the day he died.